The new prime minister of Finland Sanna Marin is not only the youngest ever prime minister in the world but she is a woman that exudes confidence. When she recently attended the conclave of the EU leaders at Brussels, she stood out as a young leader in her own right, in contrast to most leaders being middle-aged or older.CNN has reported that the young woman had a huge smile on her face as she was aware she was a trailblazer as the world's youngest sitting prime minister.

Salesgirl

Not everybody has accepted her and the recent comment by a minister of the Estonia cabinet who referred to her as a"salesgirl" was extremely uncharitable.

CBS News has reported that the remark was made by Mart Helme. He is the interior minister. He also heads the country's far-right Estonian Conservative People's Party. He is aged 70. However, the Estonia government was quick to apologize for this lapse.

Sanna Marin

Sanna Marin is unmarried and is reportedly dating Markus Raikkonen. Not much is known about him except that the couple has a daughter and as yet have decided not to get married.

Sanna Marin is only 34 years old. She was earlier the transport minister. She seized her opportunity earlier this month after the leader of the Social Democratic Party stepped down. She replaced him and became the youngest serving prime minister in the world.

Another point that is unique to Finland is that the governing coalition of five parties has all leaders who are women and under the age of 35. This is also a first in the world where so many women leaders are part of the power setup.

Sanna Marin was brought up by her mother. Her parents broke up when she was young and her mother gravitated to a same-sex relationship.

She started her career from the bottom rungs of society and by dint of ability rose up in the hierarchy.

Gender equality

Finland has always been at the forefront of gender equality in Europe. It was the first country in the world to elect women to parliament. That was over 100 years back and during these years there have been just two female prime ministers.

Both the earlier female PM's served just about a year each but none of them was so young.

Marin undertook her first job at 15 in a bakery. After graduating she worked as a cashier. This job made the Estonia minister refer to her as a salesgirl. Marin entered politics when she was just 20 and has nearly 14 years of political experience. When she was just 27 she was elected as Tempere City Council leader and just three after this, she was elected as an MP. She has not looked back and now is the prime minister of Finland.

Future

Marin will have to be on her toes after the euphoria of being the youngest prime minister settles down. She will have to face factionalism in her party as well as the nationalist Finns party.

She will also have to balance her country's relationship with Russia and Putin who was recently not invited for the D-Day celebration. She will be watched by people all over the world and one hopes for her sake she is a success.